Choice
by inexperiencedwriter
Summary: betrayed by konoha. claimed to have memories of the elder uchiha. meeting sasuke again. being proposed by him. choice between two. and so much more. can Sakura survive this? especially with the Akatsuki annoying the hell out of her?
1. Betrayal

It was five in the morning when Sakura woke up. She tried to get back to sleep, but found that impossible, so she got up and got ready for the day. By six, she was out the door and heading toward the Hokage's tower.

When she opened the door, she found Tsunade sitting at her desk, a bottle of sake in her hand.

"Shishou, you shouldn't be drinking this early in the morning. At least finish the paperwork before you get yourself drunk," Sakura said.

"I don't want to do the paperwork. Sakura, you do it," Tsunade replied.

"Wha- their YOUR responsibility! Not mine!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Too bad. I'm Hokage, so what I say goes," was Tsunade's reply.

Sakura sighed and grabbed a stack of papers to work on.

By the time she was done, it was well into the afternoon. Deciding to get something to eat, Sakura went to a restaurant and got herself something good to eat. Just when she finished and was leaving, a ninja came up to her and handed her a scroll.

Sakura looked at the scroll and headed toward the Hokage's tower. When she opened the door to Tsunade's office, she found that she was alone. Deciding to wait a few minutes, Sakura sat down in a corner.

Not too long after, Tsunade entered.

"Shishou," Sakura greeted.

"Sakura," Tsunade said. She walked to her chair and sat down.

"I want you to go to Stone and retrieve a scroll for me. It's very important," she said.

"Hai, but am I going alone this time?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade hesitated for a second before she nodded. "You will leave in the morning at eight."

"Hai," Sakura replied. While she walked back towards her apartment, she wondered why Tsunade hesitated. Shrugging it off, she decided to head toward Team 7's old training grounds instead of her apartment. When she got there, she started throwing shuriken and kunai at a dummy fifty feet away. It was far, but Sakura's aim had gotten much better. In fact, she had improved a whole lot. She was stronger than before. Sakura now had perfect aim, incredible speed, absolutely perfect chakra control, and her medic skills were known throughout the shinobi world. Some had claimed that she had surpassed the Hokage, but majority believed that it was just a pointless rumor. How wrong they were. Sakura had indeed surpassed Tsunade. She had also made ANBU Captain.

The village should have been proud to have a kunouchi like Sakura, but they judged her. All because of her past and who her teammate was.

It was very pointless of them to be scared. Sakura couldn't even remember the time she had spent with Itachi. The Third had erased her memories when Itachi had become a missing-nin.

"_I wonder what this mission is going to be abo-"_ Sakura was brought out of her thoughts by a loud voice shouting her name.

She turned and saw Naruto running towards her.

"Naruto, something wrong?" she asked.

"No. Just come with me!" he said as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her away. They stopped at Ichiraku. There, Sakura saw all her friends there.

"What the? What's this all about?" she asked.

"Nothing really. Just wishing you good luck on your mission," Ino replied.

They were all smiling on the outside, but Sakura could sense that something was wrong. Deciding to ask them later, she joined her friends.

It was seven in the morning. Sakura decided to get ready for her mission. She walked over to her bedside table and grabbed a photo. It was of her parents. She missed them so much. They had died a year ago. They were on a mission when they were suddenly ambushed by sound shinobi.

Sakura decided to take the photo with her. When she got to the gates of Konoha, she saw her friends and her shishou there. Sakura thought that was really weird. They never came to see her off before. Shrugging it off, she walked up to her friends and said goodbye.

Walking away from her friends, Sakura headed toward Stone. It was a five day walk from Konoha. (an: not really sure if it is. If someone knows the real distance, please let me know)

By the fourth day, Sakura had already arrived in Stone. It seemed that she had gotten farther than she thought, but that didn't make her any happier. For the last two days, she had felt like someone was following her. Deciding to finish her mission before checking if it really was just a feeling, Sakura quickened her pace.

It wasn't long before she was at the designated area; a forest. Waiting for a few minutes, Sakura suddenly felt more then twenty chakra signatures surrounding her. She didn't have to wait long before they showed themselves.

"I am from Konoha. Sent by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. Give me the scroll," Sakura said.

"Hmm. So you're the kunouchi. You want the scroll? Hmm, I wonder why. You won't be able to bring it back," the leader of the group said with a sneer.

Sakura grew suspicious so she stayed on her guard. "What do you mean?" she asked while grabbing her katana.

The leader smirked and tossed her the scroll. "Open it and see for yourself. That's the scroll you were sent to get," he told her.

Sakura, catching the scroll and keeping her eye on the shinobi around her, opened the scroll to read it.

It read :

**I am asking you a favor. I will be sending Haruno, Sakura on a fake mission. She has become powerful, but there is a problem. The kunouchi knows s-class criminal, Uchiha, Itachi. Eliminate her. **

**Fifth Hokage of konoha,**

**Tsunade.**

After Sakura finished reading it, she dropped the scroll. She finally understood. Her friends, Tsunade hesitating, it was all meant to eliminate her.

"So you see, we're here to kill you," the leader said with a smirk.

Sakura looked at him and gripped her katana tighter. She was against more then twenty shinobi that were mostly chunnin and some jounin rank. It would be impossible to beat them all, but this was a Sakura that had surpassed Tsunade.

Taking a step back, she slammed her fisted hand into the ground, causing it to crumble. A few shinobi weren't able to get away fast enough, so they had been killed. Suddenly, two shinobi came at Sakura from each side.

Sakura make quick work of the first six. However, the last two seemed stronger.

She was too busy killing off the two to notice that a third shinobi had snuck behind her and a kunai was now imbedded in her arm.

It hurt like hell, but Sakura pulled it out anyway and flung it back to the shinobi behind her. He died instantly.

(an: forgive me. I absolutely suck at writing fight scenes)

It had been over half an hour and there were five shinobi left.

Sakura had a deep cut on her arm and another on her left leg. A katana had grazed her side, leaving behind a two inch long cut. Her other arm had an inch deep cut.

Deciding to end it as soon as possible, Sakura created two clones. Each held a katana in their hands. The first two attack four shinobi, leaving the last one to the real Sakura.

Sakura made some hand signs so fast, no one could see them, well almost no one. Before the shinobi could register what happened, a fireball came straight at him. Jumping out of the way, he landed a few feet away from Sakura, clutching his right arm. The fireball had been accompanied but two shuriken. The other had landed in the man's thigh.

Unable to stand any longer, the man fell to the ground. Sakura appeared right in front of him and slit his throat.

Before she had time to relax another came at her. Apparently, her clones had been defeated before the last one could be killed. Pity.

Making hand signs quickly, water soon poured out of her mouth and drowning the shinobi.

Walking away from the scene, Sakura soon arrived in another part of the forest. She slowly propped herself down on the ground, her back resting against a tree. Examining her injuries, she quickly healed them.

When she was done, she felt very exhausted. Her chakra was almost completely drained.

However, one thing kept going through her head: betrayal.

"_How could Tsunade-shishou do this?! I don't even REMEMBER the Uchiha! How could I possibly have known him?! I wouldn't associate with s-class criminals!"_ Sakura thought. She was really confused. She had known the murderous Uchiha? When? How? She also couldn't believe she was to be assassinated because she had,** somehow**, known the Uchiha.

Just then, Sakura felt two incredibly strong chakra signatures not more that ten feet from her.

Quickly getting to her feet and leaning against the tree for support, Sakura took a kunai from her weapons pouch.

The two chakra signatures soon came closer. Sakura could now see the black cloak with red clouds. When she looked up, she saw Uchiha, Itachi. He was staring at her. She wondered what he could possibly want.

"_Wait, if he's in front of me, then where's Kisame?"_ Sakura thought. She soon got her answer when she felt a sharp pain in her neck and her world went black.

**How was it? Please let me know by clicking the review button! **


	2. Thoughts

**Disclaimer: oh rub it in my face. I don't own Naruto.**

**I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that the characters will be OOC. I can't help it. Sorry. **

**Sasori is alive in my story. **

When Sakura woke up, she noticed that she was no longer in the woods. She was now on a soft comfortable bed. Surveying the room, Sakura saw that there was a door in the wall in front of her. She figured it must lead to the bathroom. Her room had one window and a set of drawers in the far right corner. Sakura wondered how and why she was in this room. Soon, everything came back to her; the fake mission, the betrayal, the fight, and Itachi and Kisame. Sakura tried to get up, but found that she didn't have the strength to.

"_Damn. That stupid shark must've drained my chakra,"_ Sakura thought. No sooner had she said that, the 'stupid shark' came in.

"Kunouchi, you're awake," he stated.

"Yes, thank you for pointing that out," Sakura said with sarcasm dripping from her words.

Kisame glared at her. Sakura glared back. The two stayed that way for awhile, before Kisame moved to set something down. Sakura looked at what he had held and saw a tray of food.

"It's your dinner," Kisame said.

Sakura looked at the food and asked, "Did you cook that?'

"Yes," he replied.

"Is it…edible?" she asked.

"Of course it is!" he exclaimed.

Sakura carefully leaned over to try it. There was a bowl of rice, some pieces of chicken, something that looked like grass, and a cup of water. She pierced a piece of chicken with a fork and put it in her mouth. After she swallowed it, she immediately found her strength and rushed….to the bathroom in her room.

Dumping the contents in her stomach, she slowly walked out, clutching her stomach.

"Uuughh. That tasted horrible," she said.

"Hmph!" Kisame huffed. With his head held high, he walked out of her room.

Sakura staggered to her bed and laid down, closing her eyes. In a few moments, she was asleep.

When Sakura woke again, it was six in the morning. She realized that she had more than half of her chakra back. She slowly sat up.

Sakura was about to get up and shower when the door suddenly opened. The person that walked in was Uchiha, Itachi.

He looked at her, and then looked at the tray on her nightstand.

"Why haven't you eaten?" he asked.

"Kisame cooked it," she replied.

"Hn."

There was a moment of awkward silence before Sakura decided to break it. She hated silence, although, she did crave it when Naruto was around. Just the thought of Naruto made her want to cry. How could he? How could they? They knew it was an assassination mission, **her** being the one who would die. Why didn't they tell her? Did they truly believe she would betray them? Betray them like Sasuke had?

The scroll had mentioned something about her knowing the older Uchiha. How can that be possible?

Remembering that the older Uchiha was in her room, she asked, "Um, do you need something, Itachi-san?"

Itachi regarded her for a second before he said, "Breakfast is in half an hour."

With that, he walked out of the door. Sakura thought it was weird for him to come and tell her that. He was, after all, the murderous Uchiha, Itachi.

Sakura shrugged. _"Maybe no one was up yet. It's only six in the morning," _she thought.

She shrugged it off and continued on her way to the shower.

While she was showering, Sakura wondered what she would do now. She could either stay and find out why she's here and possibly get herself killed, or she could go back to Konoha and get killed for sure. She wondered why she was here in Akatsuki in the first place. It can't be to lure Naruto. They have Sasuke for that. Sasuke would be after his brother, and Naruto would be after Sasuke. Tsunade had figured this out a few months ago. Sakura also wondered why she was allowed such freedom in Akatsuki. She could simply jump out the window in her room and escape. Another thing was that a part of Sakura wanted revenge. Konoha had betrayed her. Her friends had betrayed her. Why should she go crawling back to them?

Twenty minutes later, Sakura emerged from the bathroom in a towel. She opened a drawer and found a black t-shirt and a pair of black pants. Grabbing it, she went back into the bathroom to change.

When she finished, she looked at her reflection and saw that her hair was getting long again. It reached below her shoulders now.

She went back out and saw Itachi coming in.

"Kunouchi, come," he said.

He turned and walked down the hallway and into what Sakura thought was the dining room. There, she saw the blond, Deidera, the shark who can't cook to save his life, Kisame, and the red head, Sasori.

"_SASORI?! Didn't he die?" _Sakura wondered.

"Didn't you die?" Sakura asked, while pointing a finger at the red head.

The red head sweat dropped before he looked at her and said, "The sword missed by a few millimeters."

"Hey Pinky. Aren't you supposed to be screaming bloody murder and trying to escape?" Kisame asked.

A vein appeared on Sakura's head when she heard his awful nickname. "Yes, I am supposed to, but I won't bother to try. There's four of you and one of me. Oh, and my name is Sakura, not Pinky, Fish face," Sakura retorted.

"Don't call me that!"

"Then don't call me Pinky," she said. During the exchange, Itachi had taken a seat by Sasori.

"Kunouchi," he called out.

Sakura turned to look at him. "Yes?" she asked.

"You will stay here, at Akatsuki," he stated.

"What? Why?" Sakura asked. She didn't want to stay here.

Itachi's eyes narrowed a bit and he glared at her. Sakura glared back, not willing to back down.

Noticing the tension in the room, Deidera decided to talk.

"Kunouchi, can you cook? I'm starving, yeah," he said.

Sakura looked away from Itachi to stare at Deidera.

"No. Why would I cook for you? You're a criminal, and what do you mean I'm staying?" Sakura looked back to Itachi when she asked her question.

"Kunouchi, you will stay as Akatsuki's medic," he replied.

"What if I don't want to?" Sakura asked.

"You don't have a choice," he said, "and while you're here, you will be expected to where the Akatsuki cloak.

Sakura grimaced. She didn't want to be their medic, but she didn't have many places to go, and she didn't want to wear the cloak! Sakura thought about going to Sand, but knew she couldn't. Sand was Konoha's ally, which meant that they could've known about what Tsunade was going to do. Sound was out of the question completely. She would not go crawling back to Sasuke asking him to save her. She could damn well take care of herself! If she did somehow manage to escape, Akatsuki would no doubt come after her, and so would ANBU when they found out she was still alive. It seemed that staying with the Akatsuki was her best choice.

With a dejected sigh, Sakura nodded. She would stay and become their medic.

"Welcome to Akatsuki, Sakura-san," Sasori said.

"Yeah! Now, let's eat, yeah!" Deidera exclaimed.

"Pinky! Cook something!" Kisame said.

A vein appeared on Sakura's head. She wanted to just hit both Kisame and Deidera.

**This chapter didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted, but I think its okay. What do you think? **

**MerrY ChRiStMaS**


	3. Two Months

**Disclaimer – no, I don't own.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! Again, the characters will be OOC sometimes. Sorry about that. **

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

It had been almost two months since Sakura had become Akatsuki's medic. She often went on missions with Itachi and Kisame. Despite Deidera's annoying attitude the first day she was here, they had gotten along. Kisame still pissed her off sometimes, but he was like a brother to her. Besides, if she killed him, she wouldn't have someone to drink sake with. Sasori was also like a brother. He kept to himself most of the time, but the two of them did talk from time to time. Itachi…..Itachi was like a friend, but sometimes, Sakura found herself wishing it was more than that.

"Sakura," Itachi called. Said girl turned and looked at the Uchiha.

"Yes Itachi-san?" Sakura asked.

"Meet me at the front door in four hours. We have a mission," he told her.

Sakura nodded and he walked away. Heading to her room to pack, Sakura heard Deidera and Sasori arguing again.

"_Really, don't they get tired of arguing about art every single damn day?!"_ Sakura thought.

Shaking her head, she entered her room and started packing the necessities. When that was done, she went into her room for a nice hot shower. Who knew if they would pass through a village?

Sakura had just finished showering and now wore her normal clothes: a simple black shirt with a small white design on the bottom corner, her usual skirt and shorts, only they were usually black or blue, and her sandals. She left her cloak off. There was still about an hour and a half before the mission. Deciding to get something to eat, Sakura headed downstairs to the kitchen.

What she saw when she got there surprised her, then enraged her. The kitchen was covered in flour, eggs, and fish. The two responsible were Deidera and Kisame.

"What the hell happened to the kitchen?!" Sakura shouted.

"Umm, I was going to bake something?" Deidera said.

"And what might that be? There are fishes all over the walls!" Sakura yelled.

"I was trying to make some sushi to eat," Deidera said.

"Why was Kisame here?!" Sakura questioned.

"I tried to stop him from eating fish," Kisame explained.

Just as she was about to kill the two stupid shinobi, Itachi entered the room. Everything seemed to stop for a second. The Uchiha walked towards the fridge and grabbed an apple. He then proceeded to walk out of the kitchen.

Sakura was still fuming that the kitchen was such a mess, but she just looked at the two stupid idiots and said, "You made this mess, you clean it up."

Walking out of the kitchen and to her room, Sakura smirked upon hearing Kisame yell, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Closing her door, she walked to her bed and laid down. Staring at the ceiling, Sakura wondered if Konoha had found out that she was not dead.

Deciding to take a short nap, Sakura's eyelids closed and she soon fell into a light slumber.

**Konoha**

"What do you mean she's still alive?!" Tsunade screeched.

A stone nin had just arrived and told her the news. They had found the shinobi sent to kill Haruno, Sakura a week later. Examining the bodies, it was deduced that she had killed them. Attempting to find her and kill her at once, ANBU were quickly dispatched. However, after about three weeks of searching, they came up with nothing. Deciding to let Konoha know that Haruno, Sakura had killed all the shinobi assigned to assassinate her and that she was still alive, they sent the Stone nin.

Tsuande had just gotten he message and to say that she was not happy was a huge understatement.

"_Now what?! Where could she be?"_ Tsunade wondered. She dismissed the Stone nin.

"_Could she be in Sound? Sasuke is there, so it's likely_," she thought.

"Shisune!" Tsunade called.

Shisune stumbled through the door and asked, "Hai, Tsunade-sama?"

"Send in Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai," Tsunade ordered.

Not long after, the three shinobi arrived.

"I want you three to go search for Sakura. She might be in Sound, but I'm not positive. If you find her, kill her. Don't hesitate. You will leave as soon as possible. This mission will last for at least a month," Tsunade said.

The three nodded their heads and took off to pack their things.

Sakura woke to hear someone knocking on her door. She got up and opened the door. Itachi stood in front of her, his hat in his hand.

"Let's go," he said. Sakura nodded. She grabbed her things, put her cloak and hat on, and locked her door.

She followed Itachi out the front door. Once outside, she saw that Kisame was already there.

"Hey, Pinky," he greeted.

"Hi, Fish face. How's the kitchen look?" Sakura asked.

Kisame scowled. "Clean."

Sakura smirked and the three were on their way.

Their mission was to assassinate three men that had caused a lot of trouble for the Akatsuki. It was now payback time. The only thing was that they're paying with their lives. They had heard that these three men were in Grass. That was about a three day travel from their base in Mist.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai were resting in a clearing by the borders of Fire country. They had decided to go to Sound to see if Sakura was indeed there. It had taken about a day to get to the border.

Now, Kakashi was making dinner and Naruto and Sai were glaring at each other. Well, Sai was smiling. That just cause Naruto's glare to intensify.

"Now, now boys," Kakashi said, "Let's just eat and get some rest before we head out in the morning, alright?"

Naruto and Sai continued their staring contest until Sai got up to get something to eat.

"Oi!! Don't you walk away from me!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi put a hand to his forehead. _"This is going to be a long night," _he thought.

Tsunade was sitting in her chair. She let her mind wander to when she had first been confronted about Sakura.

_**Flashback**_

"_Tsunade," the old man started. _

(an: I don't know their names. The elderly people who advise Tsunade or something like that. If anyone knows their names, please let me know! Thanks)

"_What?!" she answered. She was in a bad mood and seeing those two just put her in a worse mood._

"_We need to get rid of Haruno, Sakura," the old woman said._

_Tsunade stared at them for a minute before finally sighing and said, "I know, but what if we're wrong? What if she never remembers Uchiha, Itachi?" _

"_There are slim possibilities of that. You and I both know that," the old woman said sternly._

"_There's also the fact that the girl might go after her teammate, the younger Uchiha. Also, it's been years since the third died. It's only a matter of time before her memories start coming back," the old man pointed out._

_Tsunade sighed. She knew they were right, but she didn't want to have Sakura killed. Over the years, Sakura had been like a daughter to her…or the other way around, considering how much Sakura had scolded her about her work or drinking sake._

"_Can't we just put another jutsu on her?" Tsunade asked._

"_Tsunade! Yes we can, but what's the point __**when she can go to Uchiha, Sasuke**__?" the old woman asked, practically screaming. _

_Tsunade tried to think of more reasons, but couldn't think of a single thing._

"_Alright, I see your point," Tsunade said. _

"_Good, then you will agree to our plan," the old man said._

"_What plan?" Tsunade asked._

"_The plan to eliminate Haruno, Sakura," the old woman replied. _

_**End Flashback**_

**How was this chapter? I didn't have much time to work on it, so it might not turn out so good. I'm really tired right now. People in my neighborhood don't know the meaning of sleep! They were playing with firecrackers until two in the morning.**

TeenageCrisis – thanks for the review! Glad to know you like the story!

luxiolechan – thanks for the review! It's good to know that OOC doesn't bother you.

Dreamergirl92813 – thanks! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

aznkitty180 – glad you like the story so far! Itachi does remember Sakura.

ramenprincess – hahaha. i loved your review! I'll try to add more humor and make Sakura a little more emo. As for Tobi, I want to put him in, but I'm not sure when.

j – thanks! Your review was hilarious! I can guarantee you that Sakura's feelings for Sasuke have definitely changed! Thanks for the suggestion!

wateveryouwannacallme – thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Staring.out.my.flooded.window – thanks for the review! I love your stories! thanks for the suggestion. I'll try my best to be more descriptive!

_**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**_


	4. First Time

_**Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you all liked it. If any of you didn't like it, I sincerely apologize. This is only the second story I've written for and the third story I've written in my life. It's harder than it looks. **_

_**Thanks for all your patience with me. Suggestions are always welcomed. **_

It was their second day of traveling. At the pace they were going, they would reach Grass tomorrow in the afternoon. Having set up camp a while ago, the Akatsuki members had just finished dinner.

"I'm still hungry!!" Kisame whined.

Sakura sighed. _"I won't get any sleep with his stomach growling tonight."_

"There's an apple tree right there. Go get some to eat," Sakura said.

Kisame turned and saw said apple tree.

"Hey, Pinky, stand under the tree and catch the apples that fall," Kisame said.

"Fine," Sakura said.

The two walked over to the tree and Sakura stood underneath it while Kisame stood by the trunk and started to shake the tree.

By the fire, Itachi watched with a bored expression on his face.

A few minutes later, Sakura arms will practically full of apples, yet Kisame was still shaking the tree.

"Oi! Isn't this enough?!" Sakura asked.

"Just one more apple," Kisame said.

"Just leave it," Sakura replied.

"No, I won't be full," Kisame responded.

Just as Sakura was about to retort that one apple hardly made a difference, the apple fell…right onto Sakura's head. Since the apple had fallen from a tall branch, it hit her head rather hard, though she showed no sign of pain.

Kisame had a look of disbelief on his face. Itachi had no expression on his face, but his eyes held a look of amusement. Sakura's face was blank.

Suddenly, Kisame blankly said, "It fell on your head." Not a moment after, he started laughing. Sakura glared at him and started to advance on him. Kisame walked backwards and his back was against a tree. Sakura was about six feet in front of him.

"Now, now, Pinky, it was an accident," Kisame started.

Sakura ignores him and exclaimed, "It fell?! That's all you can say?!"

"No!" Kisame replied, "I said it fell on your head."

Sakura had a murderous look on her face and just as she was about to gut him and serve him to the fishes in the stream nearby, Itachi interrupts, "Enough. Kisame, you have first watch."

With those words said, Itachi leaned up against a tree and closed his eyes. Sakura also went to a nearby tree, but before she went to sleep, she checked to make sure the apple hadn't done any damage. After making sure that there wasn't more than just a bump, Sakura closed her eyes and fell asleep within minutes.

_A seven year old girl with pink hair was running after a group of children her age. She had been eating a bowl of strawberries when a boy had grabbed it. The boy was Sasuke. He and some other kids teased her about her hair color and her big forehead. She had wanted to cry, but remembered her mother telling her to ignore it. They'll leave her alone if she did. _

_So, following her mother's advice, the little girl ignored them and continued to enjoy her tasty treat. _

_However, it seemed that Sasuke didn't like to be ignored. He grabbed her bowl of strawberries and ran, the rest of the group following him. _

_Sakura had also given chase. She wanted her strawberries!_

_Sasuke stopped running somewhere in the forest. Sakura finally caught up, panting._

"_Ha ha, look at her! She can't even keep up! So pathetic," a boy remarked. _

_Sakura ignored him and looked at Sasuke. "Please give me back my strawberries," she said._

"_Hmm, what if I don't want to? What if I decide to leave on one of the branches of these trees?" Sasuke asked a cruel smirk on his face. _

"_Please, give it back," Sakura pleaded, hoping that he wouldn't put it in a tree._

_Sasuke seemed to think for a second before his face became a cruel smirk. He leapt up onto a small branch and continued to go higher until he was about thirty feet above the ground. Setting the bowl of strawberries on the branch he was standing on, he slowly made his decent to the ground; jumping down on one branch, then to the other._

_Sasuke sneered before he said, "You want it so bad, go get it!" With that, he and the rest left, laughing._

_Sakura felt like crying, but she held her tears back. She was a big girl now and would not cry, but a tear slide down her cheek. She wiped it away and tried to jump on the branches like Sasuke did. _

_She didn't succeed. It was too high for her. Since Sasuke was taller than her by a few inches, he could reach them easily, but Sakura was short and could barely touch the branch with her fingertips when she jumped. _

_After a few more failed attempts, Sakura opted to climb the tree. She managed to climb ten feet before stopping to regain some of her breath. Looking up, she saw the bowl of strawberries twenty feet up. _

_She continued to climb._

_-----_

_Itachi had just returned from a mission when he saw his younger brother and his friends running out of the forest. They seemed to be laughing. _

_Paying it no mind, he continued on his way to give the Hokage his report._

_---_

_Itachi walked out of the Hokage's office. He was walking towards his house and was about to turn a corner when he heard the voice of his brother say, "I bet she's still in the forest. She's so stupid."_

_Itachi was curious as to what his brother was talking about. Deciding to find out, he headed towards the forest. _

_-----_

_Sakura panted. She had finally reached the branch. Now, all she had to do was crawl towards the bowl of strawberries, grabbed it and jump down the branches. It was easier said that done._

_Summing up her courage, Sakura started to crawl, all the while chanting, "I will not look down," in her head. _

_Just as she grabbed the bowl of strawberries, she felt and heard the branch crack. Trying her best to get off the branch, Sakura felt the branch snap. Sakura screamed._

_Her face was going to meet the ground and no one was around to save her. Closing her eyes, Sakura briefly prayed to whatever God was out there to save her._

_-----_

_Itachi had been in the forest for a few minutes at most when he spotted something pink and it was moving. Deciding to get closer, he saw it was a little girl. She was reaching for a bowl, and had just grabbed it when the branch broke._

_He ran towards her…and reached her just in time._

_-----_

_Sakura opened her eyes. She didn't feel her face connect with the ground, but a pair of arms cradling her. Looking up, she saw crimson eyes. After staring at her savior's eyes for a moment, she felt herself being set down on the ground. _

_She looked up again and saw that this person resembled Sasuke. _

"_Thank you," she said a smile on her face "I'm Haruno, Sakura. What's your name?"_

_The boy looked at her smiling face for a brief moment before responding, "Uchiha, Itachi."_

Sakura woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She looked up into crimson eyes.

It was Itachi.

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"It's your watch," Itachi told her.

"Okay."

Itachi returned to the tree he had been sleeping against while Sakura went to sit on a high branch in a tree.

"_What was that dream just now? I remember that day, but I don't remember Itachi. I thought I climbed down that tree myself. How does Itachi fit it? Everything went as I remembered except the parts of Itachi and me falling from the tree. Could that dream have been what actually happened? If it was, is it a memory of mine?" _Sakura wondered. She turned her head to the side and found herself facing Itachi. His eyes were closed and he looked to be asleep.

"_I wonder if I should ask him if he remembers saving a younger me. If it's true, I don't even think he'll remember me. If it's not true, he'll probably just look at me and think I'm crazy. Seriously, who would go up to an S-class criminal and ask, 'Hi, I was just wondering if you remembered saving me when I was seven? You know, when I was falling from a tree and about to land smack on my face?' God, that sounds so retarded, but I want to know if it really was a memory. Would he even answer me? This is giving me a headac-" _

"Oi!" Kisame shouted.

Sakura jumped at the sound. She was about to turn and yell at Kisame, but realized that she wasn't very stable on the branch. Trying to catch herself before she fell on the ground, Sakura summoned chakra to her hands, hoping to grab onto something.

She did, but the speed of her fall was too great. Her hand slipped off the branch and she continued to fall. Looking around frantically, she saw nothing else to hold onto. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for the incoming greeting with the ground.

"_Great! My face is going to be implanted in the ground!"_ Sakura thought, as she continued to fall.

_**Well there's another chapter done. I'm so sorry I haven't updated sooner. I had to babysit and I start school soon. I hope this chapter was okay.**_

wateveruwannacallme - thanks! Let me know what you think of this chapter! )

Pink Blossom Princess – thanks! Really? It does? Is that a good thing?

fallin'sakura-tenshi – thanks so much! I'll try my best to put then in more often! I'll also try to increase Sakura's hatred for her village. )

Dreamergirl92813 – thanks! My Christmas was fine. Hope you liked this chapter! )

aznkitty180 – thanks! I agree with you, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna kill them.


	5. Missions

Recap

"_Great! My face is going to be implanted in the ground!"_ Sakura thought, as she continued to fall.

Chapter Five

Not more than a second later, Sakura felt arms wrapped securely around her. She opened her eyes and stared into crimson ones. She seemed to be lost in those eyes and his eyes seemed to show amusement.

That just made her slightly irritated at him. Sakura was set down on the floor and not too long afterward, the group headed toward Grass country.

-----

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai had just reached Sound. The three knew they were in enemy territory, so they had all disguised themselves. Kakashi now had black hair that reached his shoulders, Naruto had red hair instead of blond, Sai had light brown hair, and all three were wearing civilian clothes.

They went into an inn and rented two rooms; one for Kakashi and the other for Naruto and Sai. After their stuff had been put down, they headed into town to ask if anyone had seen a girl with pink hair pass by. The three had gone to bars, restaurants, etc.

At the end of the day, they all headed back to the inn.

"Did you find anything?" Kakashi asked.

"No," Naruto said.

Sai shook his head. Kakashi sighed.

"Let's ask around again in the morning. If we don't get any news by noon, we'll leave and go to the Hidden Village of Waterfall to check," Kakashi said.

Naruto and Sai nodded and all three shinobi went to their rooms to get a night's rest.

-----

Itachi, Kisame, and Sakura had just made it to Grass. They had rented three rooms in a nearby inn and were now deciding to split up and search for information on where these men usually hung out. Their cloaks had also been discarded to avoid suspicion.

Now, Sakura was heading into a bar to ask the bartender if these men ever came here or if he's seen them.

"Oh, those men come here every night. They come at around eight," the bartender said, "I don't mean to be rude, but those men are the worse. They just come in here like they own the place and start flirting with the women here. The only reason they haven't been kicked out is because they order a lot of sake and leave a big tip."

Sakura thought it was totally pointless to tell her all of that, but was grateful all the same. She returned to the inn and waited for Itachi and Kisame to come back.

Five minutes later, Itachi walked in and Kisame followed another five minutes later.

"I found out where they usually hang out," Sakura said, "They go to this bar around eight and apparently are incredibly rude, hit on women, and drink a lot of sake. Why don't we just wait until they're drunk to kill them?"

There was silence for a while. The two shinobi considered the kunouchi's plan.

"Why doesn't Pinky just flirt with them and lead them to us and we'll kill 'em?" Kisame suggested.

Sakura glared at him. Itachi remained emotionless.

-----

**(Warning – I completely suck at writing seduction and fighting scenes.)**

Sakura had a sour expression on her face. She was dressed in and extremely short red dress. Her hair was pulled up and it was red instead of pink. They had decided to try Kisame's plan, with a few modifications.

Sakura was to try and kill them when she was leading them to Itachi and Kisame. It wouldn't be too hard. She had senbons pinning her hair up. It would be very easy to take one out and stab the men with it.

However, the only person Sakura wanted to stab was Kisame. His stupid idea put her in this situation.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura walked into the bar. She immediately spotted the three men. Lucky for her, they were sitting together and only one girl was hanging around them.

Sakura walked over to the table they were sitting at. She smiled flirtatiously at all three of them and asked in a seductive tone, "Can I sit here?"

They instantly looked up.

"Of course," one of them replied. Sakura situated herself between the first and second guy.

"So, what are your names?" Sakura said as she ran a finger up the guy's chest.

"I'm Kaname," the first replied.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

Suddenly, Sakura felt Kaname's hand on her thigh. It was slowly going up.

"_Ewwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sakura thought._

She felt another hand on her opposite thigh. Looking at the owner of said hand, she saw the second guy.

"My name's Kouga. What's yours sweetheart?" he asked.

"I'm Rose, and who's that other guy?" 'Rose' asked.

"I'm Maki," the third guy replied.

They were all looking her up and down. Sakura gave them all a seductive look. Inside, though, she was screaming bloody murder.

Sakura decided not to waste any more time. She was afraid she might accidently kill one of them in front of all these witnesses.

"Want to come back to my place?" she asked all of them. 'Rose' stood up and headed for the door. They gave her hungry looks and followed her out. As they exited the bar, they saw her red hair heading down an alley.

They turned to corner to follow her, but suddenly dodged out of the way of a kunai.

Suddenly alert, the three men got into a defensive position. Another three kunai were thrown at them, from three different directions. They each flung their own kunai to intercept their enemies' attacks. Maki had thrown another kunai following the one he had just thrown in one direction and then another in the other direction. The first kunai was supposed to hide the second.

Unknowingly, he had thrown it in Sakura's direction. She had dodged his kunai. However, she had barely escaped the third one; her side was injured. That wasn't the only bad thing. She had unknowingly stepped into Maki's line of vision and was now dodging many shuriken and kunai. She threw back her own and some of his weapons, too. Itachi was apparently battling Kouga and Kisame was battling Kaname.

Itachi had not bothered with his sharingan. It seemed that his opponent was deemed too weak and could be defeated without it. Kisame was just swinging his humungous sword around. (I'm surprised his arm isn't falling off…sorry, back to story)

Sakura was still dodging kunai and shuriken, so she hadn't seen the dagger that was quickly thrown her way. She moved to the left, but the dagger still gave her a pretty deep cut. She had not healed the earlier injury, so she was losing a small amount of blood. Not enough to be life endangering, until now that is. The wound made by the dagger was deep and the blood was seeping onto her clothes quickly.

It seemed that Sakura had gotten the strongest of the three. Maki had gotten closer to her, close enough for her to deliver a chakra enhanced foot in his direction. He was sent flying back into a wall.

Sakura appeared in a flash next to him. However, as soon as she reached him, the body disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Suddenly, four kunai with exploding notes attached were thrown her way. Quickly jumping out of the way, Sakura cursed herself for falling for such a stupid trick. She had to finish Maki off quickly. She was losing too much blood. Unsheathing her katana and holding her blade in her right hand, she charged at Maki. He quickly unsheathed his own katana and blocked her on-coming attack. He, however, failed to notice that Sakura had reached into her hair for a split second.

Maki was about to attack when he suddenly had a mouth full of blood. A senbon was stuck in his neck.

Kisame and Itachi were also finished with their opponents. Kaname no longer had a head and Kouga had a kunai in his chest, a shuriken in his leg and one in his arm.

The effect of the blood lost finally made Sakura lose focus. She swayed on her feet, closed her eyes, and fell forward. She felt arms wrap around her, catching her before she hit the ground, but that could've been her imagination.

**oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**chapter five is finally finished. To all my readers and reviewers, I am incredibly sorry I haven't update in over a month. I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you I was away or something like that. I do, however, have two huge projects due in about a week and I am freaking out 'cause I haven't even started either! GAH! I haven't updated in so long because I've had a humungous writer's block. I seriously don't know what is wrong with me. I couldn't write, I couldn't think. I never even updated the story I'm writing for my friend! That is something different because it's a fantasy of ours that I'm making come true…in my story anyway.**_

_**If you're still reading my story and still support me, thanks so so much. Encouragements and suggestions are the best. Thanks tons if you're still reading my stories.**_

…_**I'm forgetting something……oh!**_

_**To those that have wondered,**_

_**I HAVE NOT DIED!!!!**_


	6. Memories

Recap

_The effect of the blood lost finally made Sakura lose focus. She swayed on her feet, closed her eyes, and fell forward. She felt arms wrap around her, catching her before she hit the ground, but that could've been her imagination. _

Now

_Itachi was walking home from a bar Kakashi had dragged him to. The man had said that he needed to loosen up and a bar would be a great idea. Said man passed out not too long ago. _

_Itachi was just about to turn left when he heard a small whimper. He stood still and waited until he heard it again. This time he could tell which direction it had come from. He turned right and headed down the street. He stopped walking when he heard the whimper again. He saw a figure hunched up in the small space between shops. Walking closer, Itachi saw pink hair and immediately recognized her. It was that little girl that had climbed up a tree for her strawberries: Sakura. Walking up to her and crouching to her level, he softly said, "Sakura, what are you doing here?" _

_His voice startled the small girl. Her head shot up and she found herself staring into the most beautiful onyx eyes. _

"_Itachi-san?" she asked hesitantly. _

_Itachi nodded. Sakura slowly stood and immediately fell. She felt strong arms catch her. Itachi looked at her for a second before looking down at her left foot. It was red and swollen. He gently set her back down on the ground before he slowly lifted her left foot. He touched her foot softly and when he reached her ankle, she flinched from the pain. It was broken._

_The next thing Sakura knew, she was being carried on his back, but she didn't really care, she was tired and the warmth radiating from Itachi was lulling her into sleep. _

"_Thank you, Itachi-san," she managed to mumble._

"_Rest," he simply said. Sakura smiled briefly before her eyelids slid close. Hearing her breath even out, Itachi knew she had fallen asleep. Even when she was exhausted the girl remembered her manners. She thanked him even though she was thoroughly exhausted. This caused Itachi to smile slightly, but nobody saw it anyway._

-----

Sakura was lying in her bed at the Akatsuki headquarters. Itachi had healed Sakura somewhat, but he wasn't much of a medic so he and Kisame traveled back with an unconscious Sakura. Kakuzu had finished healing the rest of her injuries. 

Itachi was currently lying in his bed with his hands behind his head. His eyes were closed. They were starting to hurt again, but it was only a slight twinge. 

-----

_Sakura was walking in the woods. She had been bored and her mother had told her to go out and have so fun or go for a walk. Now, she was walking in the forest. Sakura didn't know why, but she loved the trees. Perhaps it was the peaceful atmosphere the forests seem to have. _

_Sakura had just walked past a tree when she saw him. He was in the air and had just thrown his kunai. Sakura stood there, amazed. Each kunai had hit the target, even the one that was in his blind spot. That was amazing. _

"_Sakura," he said. Said girl was startled. He knew it was her without even looking. _

"_Good morning, Itachi-san," Sakura greeted. She stepped closer to him and smiled up at him._

_Sakura looked at all the kunai with awe on her face. What he did was so cool. A happy, giddy, smile on her face, she put her hands behind her back and asked, "Can you teach me how to do that someday?" _

_At first nothing was shown on Itachi's face before a hardly noticeable grin was on his face. _

"_Someday, but for now, let's do something else," Itachi responded._

"_Okay!" Sakura beamed._

_Itachi handed her a kunai. He pointed to the target five feet away and said, "Try hitting the center of that target."_

_Nodding her head, Sakura looked at the kunai in her hand and then the target. She parted her legs slightly to maintain her balance and threw the kunai as hard as she could._

_It missed the center by a good two inches. Sakura was disappointed, but Itachi was surprised. She wasn't bad. In fact, she was good. It didn't hit the center, but it only missed be about two inches and that was an accomplishment for a seven year old. _

_He turned to look at her and found her pouting. A small smile graced his face. She looked adorable. _

"_You did better than I expected, Sakura," he commented. _

_Sakura smiled. She missed the target, but he wasn't disappointed with her. In fact, he said she did better than he expected!_

_For the remainder of the day, Sakura practiced throwing kunai at the target and Itachi helped her whenever needed. _

---

_Over the next few days, Sakura continued to practice. One day, she finally hit the mark. Wanting to test if it was a stroke of luck or not, she tried again, and again, it hit the center. She was so happy. She finally did it._

_Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around and looked into the eyes of Itachi. Her face split into a huge grin and she ran to him. He caught her as she collided into him. He looked down and saw her laughing and smiling at him._

"_What is it, Sakura?" he asked with a slight smile on his face._

_Sakura merely turned around and walked to the target. She pulled the kunai out and walked back over to Itachi. _

"_Watch," was all she said. She faced the target again and threw the kunai. It hit dead center. Itachi was surprised. She had gotten a lot better and had been able to hit the center sooner than he thought she would. _

_Itachi turned his gaze to Sakura and found her looking up at him expectantly. _

"_You've improved a lot, Sakura. You accomplished this task sooner than I thought. Good job," he said._

"_Thank you, Itachi-san! Umm, can you teach me more?" she asked timidly. _

_Itachi smiled. She never ceased to amaze him. _

"_Sure, Blossom." The nickname fit perfectly. She had indeed blossomed. She had started out as a weak girl, but she had accomplished something that usually took weeks in days._

_---_

_It had been almost three months since Sakura had hit the center. Since then, she had improved drastically, but of course she would, Itachi taught her and she was a fast and eager learner._

_Sakura, now, often tied her hair back into either a pony tail or other when she was training with Itachi. _

"_Itachi-san, watch," Sakura said. _

_She closed her eyes and centered herself, and then she jumped high into the air and threw the kunai in her hand. When Sakura had landed back on her feet, the kunai were all embedded into the targets that Itachi had set up. This was his weapons course. The one he had designed himself, and she had hit every single one, even the one that was in a person's blind spot. _

"_Very well, Blossom. You did great," Itachi told her. He was smiling and one could tell that he was proud of her. _

_-----_

Itachi walked into Sakura's room at the Akatsuki headquarters. He walked over to her bed and sat down at the edge. She seemed to be in some sort of dream. Her face was set into a determined expression.

"I will hit the center," he heard her murmur. 

She shifted and murmured, "I hit them. I hit all the targets."

"_What is she dreaming about?" Itachi wondered._

He had been wondering is she had improved any since they lost brought her here. He was positive that she would be completely healed in a matter of days. Deidera had joked around, saying she would 'croak' as he put it. 

He, however, knew that wasn't true. The kunouchi wouldn't give up that easily. She had been stubborn in the past and from what he observed, she was still as stubborn. 

"Mnnugh." 

Itachi looked back at Sakura and saw that she was waking. Her eyes fluttered before they opened fully. 

"Itachi-san," she greeted, "Morning."

"It's night," he said.

Sakura sat up and quickly regretted it when she felt a twinge of pain from her abdomen. 

"How long have I been out?" Sakura asked.

"Four days," Itachi replied. 

Sakura's eyes widened. She hadn't thought she'd be out for that long. Sakura looked at him and was about to ask him if he knew anything about her dream when she noticed his eyes. Her hands glowed green with chakra and she raised them to his temples. 

"You shouldn't keep the sharingan on for so long. It'll deteriorate your eyes faster," Sakura said. 

Itachi shut his eyes. The burning in his eyes was slowing fading and he felt relaxed when her cool chakra entered his eyes. 

After a few minutes, Sakura removed her hands and Itachi opened his eyes. They were the normal onyx color. This made Sakura smile. 

**oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**This chapter was mostly flashbacks but I hope you liked it. And just in case some of you are confused, Sakura is 7 and Itachi is 13. Yes, he does kill his clan when he's 13. No, I'm not going to change that fact. **_

_**I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I have this huge writer's block that I can't seem to get rid of entirely. I'm so sorry. The next update might be sooner since I'm on break right now. No school for two weeks! YAY! But when I get back, I gotta take the H.S.A. So that sucks.**_

_**Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter!**_

_**Suggestion and Ideas welcomed!**_

_**Please and Thanks**_


	7. Familiar

It had been two weeks since Itachi, Kisame, and Sakura had returned from Grass. Sakura had recovered from her injuries in about a day after she woke up. Now, she was training…at six in the morning.

Sakura had been working on a new binding jutsu she had come up with. It was taking longer than she thought to perfect it. She had been up since three and was working on making it just perfect. Sakura had thought this jutsu up about a week and a half ago. Normally, it would take a while to master it, but this was a binding jutsu, so it shouldn't take too long.

Deciding to try one more time, Sakura quickly formed the needed hand signs and sakura petals appears around the practice target. One final hand sign and vines appeared. The sakura petals were not attached to the vines.

Normally, you wouldn't need the petals, but Sakura had come up with a better idea. The petals made your opponent unconscious. This would not have been very easy to achieve, but Sakura was a medic-nin after all. The vines were also chakra enhanced, just in case a partner or accomplice of the intended target tried to free them.

Sakura had enough time to smile once at her succession before she fell backwards onto the grass.

* * *

Itachi walked down the halls and to the kitchen to grab a bit to eat. Opening the refrigerator, he took a peach from a bowl of fruit and closed the door. He sat down at the table and let his mind wander.

"_The kunouchi had mentioned something about hitting targets while she had been asleep. I wonder what she could have been dreaming about," Itachi wondered._

He had also noticed that she had tried to ask him something for the past two weeks, but had always said something else at the last minute.

After finishing the peach and throwing the seed in the trash Itachi headed out the kitchen door. As he was passing one of the many windows in the halls, he saw Sakura training. It seemed she was mastering another jutsu.

Itachi saw her smile and then promptly fall onto her back. Walking towards the training grounds, he stopped beside Sakura's fallen form.

"_Persistent in training as always. She hasn't changed a bit," Itachi thought._

Kneeling down, Itachi lifted her into his arms and carried her towards her room.

Once he arrived there, he set her down on her bed and covered her up.

* * *

It was well into the afternoon when Sakura woke up. Looking at her surroundings, she realized someone must have carried her to her room. Rising from the bed, Sakura took a quick shower before heading towards the kitchen for some food.

Making a quick meal, Sakura looked out the kitchen window to see Deidera, Sasori, Kisame, and Itachi training; although, Deidera and Sasori seemed to argue more than they train.

Finishing her meal and putting the dishes in the sink, Sakura headed out towards the training grounds once again.

It seemed that Sasori and Deidera had decided to rest for a short while. Itachi and Kisame were sparring. Kisame was currently swinging Samehada wildly, hoping to knock Itachi off balance.

Sakura turned to Deidera and asked, "Can you help me test out my new jutsu?"

"Okay, yeah," Deidera replied.

Getting a far distance from Sasori and Itachi and Kisame, Deidera and Sakura got into position.

Deidera threw shuriken and kunai at Sakura while his hand went into the pouch by his side.

Sakura quickly flipped out of the way before any of the weapons could touch her only to have a paper bird come flying at her. Quickly making some hand signs, the bird touch a long and exploded.

Meanwhile, Sakura was hiding behind a tree. Deidera was currently searching for her. Making hand signs again, two clones appeared and charged at Deidera, while Sakura formed the hand signs needed for her new jutsu. Immediately, sakura petals surrounded Deidera and Sakura revealed her hiding place. Walking over to Deidera, Sakura could see that he was confused and his eyes were slowing glazing over and he was growing unsteady.

Forming one last hand sign, vines appeared and the petals were now attached to the vines. Deidera's eyes closed and he promptly fell forward.

Smiling, Sakura walked over to Deidera's fallen figure and place a glowing green palm on his forehead. Seconds later, his eyes flickered open.

"What was that, yeah?" he asked.

"A new binding jutsu of mine," Sakura replied.

"It's powerful. Now, would you mind getting me out of the vines? I can't break them, yeah," he said.

Sakura formed a hand sign and the vines loosened.

The two headed back towards the hideout. It seemed that Itachi and Kisame had also finished with their training, although, Kisame seemed to have a few injuries. Quickly healing Kisame, while telling him to stop being such a baby, Sakura looked over at Itachi to see if he had any injuries. It seemed that he looked fine.

All five of them walked back inside the hideout. Kisame and Deidera went into the kitchen for some food while the rest went to their rooms.

Sasori's room was down the nearest hallway along with Deidera's and Kisame's while Itachi and Sakura's rooms were down another hallway. Hidan and Kakuzu had their own rooms down another hallway, but they had been called back to the main hideout.

Itachi and Sakura walked down the hallway and reached her door first. Sakura opened the door and was about to walk in when she heard Itachi say, "Impressive jutsu, Sakura."

She spun around so fast that she tripped and fell towards Itachi. His arms reached out on instinct and caught her, however, neither expected for their lips to collide. Sakura's eyes widened before she pushed herself away from Itachi and said, "S-sorry,"

Sakura nearly ran inside her room before closing the door. She was leaning against the door and slid down to the ground.

"_What was that?! It—it felt—nice an-and familiar. Why would it feel familiar?" Sakura wondered._

* * *

Outside her door, Itachi was thinking back on his memories. The accidental kiss had brought back some memories. He wondered if she remembered.

Shaking his head slightly, he thought, _"She probably doesn't."_

He continued towards his room and went to shower.

* * *

That night when Sakura walked into the kitchen for dinner she noticed Itachi was missing.

"Where's Itachi?" she asked.

"Mission," Kisame replied. Sakura nodded and sat down at the table. Tonight, it was Sasori's turn to cook.

After a wonderful meal, Sakura headed to the library they had and grabbed a medical book to read. So immersed with her book, Sakura didn't notice that hours had passed and that when she finally put her book away, it was nearly one in the morning.

One her way back to the room, she noticed Itachi's presence. Walking towards his room, she knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Opening the door and stepping inside, Sakura closed the door and walked over to where Itachi was sitting on the bed. She was going to ask him how the mission was when she noticed his eyes. He had his sharingan activated once again and in Sakura's medic eyes, his eyes were starting to hurt.

"Let me heal it," Sakura said.

"Hn." Taking that as an okay, Sakura kneeled on the bed and pressed her glowing green hands to his temples. Once again, Itachi shut his eyes and felt Sakura's cool, calming chakra enter his eyes.

When Sakura was done, Itachi opened his eyes and she found herself looking into his onyx gaze. Smiling to see that his eyes were fine and he wasn't using the sharingan, Sakura got off the bed. However, she didn't expect for Itachi to grasp her wrist and fell onto him.

Feeling her face flush, Sakura lifted herself off of Itachi just enough to be able to look at him. Though at that moment, Sakura was looking anywhere but at Itachi. His hand still gripped her wrist, so Sakura couldn't move away.

Sakura was finding the floor an interesting thing right then when Itachi's hand cupped her cheek to turn her face to him.

Not expecting him to be so close to her, Sakura's eyes widened. When Itachi closed the distance between them, and his soft and warm lips landed on hers, Sakura stiffened.

After a few moments, Sakura relaxed into him and kissed him back. This seemed so familiar to her, but she just couldn't figure out why. However, Itachi's tongue was currently seeking entrance into her cavern and all other thoughts flew out of her head. She hesitantly parted her lips and granted him entrance.

Both broke apart, breathing heavily, to catch their breaths.

"Thank you, Sakura," Itachi said once his breathing became stable.

Sakura smiled timidly and said, "Goodnight, Itachi."

**oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**How was this chapter? I was going to put something else in, but that would've made it too long. I hope you liked it. This update was sooner than the others and I can't guarantee when the next update will be because Spring Break ends soon and I go back to school on Monday. **_

_**I'm trying to build up Itachi and Sakura's relationship, but I have to get the memories and everything out of the way first and it's hard to write romantic scenes because Itachi doesn't seem like the type. The characters are definitely going to be OOC. **_

_**I got this review telling me it wasn't OOC-ish and I want to say thanks! This is most definitely the first time a character wasn't OOC. **_

_**Thanks to all my reviewers and I hope you like this chapter!**_

_**Thanks for the support and suggestions are always welcomed!! No, really, I mean it. **_


	8. Choices

_A seven year old Sakura ran as fast as she could. She had just found out that morning that the Uchiha Clan had been massacred and by Itachi, no less! _

"_Why, Itachi-san?" Sakura thought. She was aimlessly running and ended up far into the forests by the time she stopped. _

_There was no one around and it was as silent as death. Falling to her knees, Sakura angrily rubbed her tears away. That, however, didn't stop more from falling. She didn't want to believe it. It couldn't have been. _

"_Itachi-san was such a nice person. Why would he kill his family?" Sakura wondered._

_Sakura wanted to know why. She believed there had to be a reason. He had to have a good reason. He just had to. _

"_Sakura."_

_Immediately, Sakura's head shot up. She recognized that voice. It was Itachi's voice. Sure enough, Itachi walked out from behind a tree. The next thing she knew, she was running towards him. _

_He caught her just as she collided with his body. Her arms wrapping around his waist as she sobbed into his cloak. _

"_W-why?" Sakura managed to choke out. Her face lifted to stare into his crimson orbs. _

"_Sakura," Itachi started. _

_Sakura shook her head. She wanted to know why and he wouldn't be telling her that she was too young to know like he had so many times before._

"_Why?" she asked again._

_Itachi crouched down to her level and sighed. "The Uchiha Clan destroys lives, Sakura."_

_Sakura looked up at him with startled green eyes._

"_They love power and would do anything to achieve great power. That includes destroying lives, their families' lives and other innocent lives. My father trained me since I could remember. He told me to do better, to achieve greater goals. I did. I followed his words. In the end, I lost a lot. My childhood was wasted on training to get my father's praise. I was seen as an outcast because I had so much power. I am nobody's tool, Sakura," Itachi explained. _

_Sakura tightened her grip around his waist. She didn't fully understand why he did it, but she knew it was a good reason. After all, killing innocent people who had done absolutely nothing to you just to achieve power was sickening. _

_Itachi had however left out an important part of his explanation. While he had been planning their demise, he had overheard his father and some other people in his family talking about killing someone. He had hid himself and listened to their conversation. What he had heard angered him to the core. They had planned on killing Sakura. It seemed that they noticed he had been disappearing quite often to help her with her training. They had thought she was becoming a distraction and of course they couldn't have their most powerful family member lose his concentration or have a weakness. _

_Sakura's voice brought him out of his thoughts. _

"_Itachi-san, will I ever get to see you again?" she asked._

"_Maybe, Blossom, maybe," he replied. _

_Apparently, that had not been the answer Sakura wanted. Her eyes filled with tears and the rapidly fell down her cheeks. Lifting his hand, he wiped away her tears and his lips softly touched hers. It was a chaste kiss, but it stopped Sakura's tears. Her green eyes stared into his crimson. _

_A comfortable silence passed, but it didn't last long. Itachi sensed some shinobi headed their way and would get their in about ten minutes. Kissing her forehead, he left. _

"_Bye, Blossom." _

_Sakura stared at the trees. He was gone. "Bye, Itachi." _

_It was the first time she had called him that. It had always been 'Itachi-san.'_

* * *

Sakura woke up with tears trailing down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her hands, much like Itachi had done when they were younger.

"_That's why he killed them. The clan manipulated and killed to achieve power. That's horrible. Who would do such a thing like tha—__**he kissed me!!**__**That's why it seemed so familiar when I..crashed..into..him,**__" Sakura thought._

The last part made her turn bright red. Then, her thoughts drifted to when he had kissed her after she had healed his eyes. Turning even redder, Sakura got out of bed and decided that a warm shower would help.

* * *

After her shower, Sakura headed down to the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. It was Kisame's turn to cook, but Sakura was in no mood to pass out. She was currently making some scrambled eggs. However, her thoughts weren't on the food.

"_Does he even remember me? It's been over eight years," Sakura thought, "Wait! Why am I even thinking about this?! It's not like we're in love! He's my teammate and my friend, so this shouldn't matter...but he kissed me. What does this all mea—"_

**BOOM!**

* * *

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai had left Sound a day ago and were heading towards Cloud. It would take them another day to reach Cloud. Having stayed in Sound for a good two weeks, just in case she had decided to travel to Sound, they found nothing, absolutely nothing.

They had decided to go to Cloud and then to Mist. Hopefully, they would find something; otherwise, they would have to check Rock, Waterfall, Grass, Rain, and possibly, Sand. They didn't think she would go to Sand. That was the most dangerous place for a Konoha missing-nin to hide, but some say, "The most dangerous place is the safest place."

However, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai still couldn't believe that she would survive that attack against her. There were about twenty shinobi there and they weren't easy to beat either. Perhaps they had underestimated her, but who would expect a weak kunouchi like her to kill twenty skilled shinobi.

One, they thought she would be too weak for that, and two, Sakura didn't seem like the type to kill someone. She seemed like one who would let them keep their lives, even if they were severely wounded.

"Ne, where do you think she is right now?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure Naruto. We all thought she would go to Sasuke. Perhaps Sakura has changed more than we thought," Kakashi replied.

Sai said nothing. There was nothing unusual about Sai, except that his smile was not on his face.

"Do you think the decision to eliminate Sakura was wrong?" Sai asked.

The two other shinobi stared at him. A long silence passed.

"Maybe, but this was for the safety of the village," Kakashi said.

A thoughtful silence passed. The village. It was a choice between Sakura's life and everyone else's, and they had obviously chosen everyone else's lives. Now, they were paying for it.

* * *

"DEIDERA!!"

"It was an accident!! An accident, yeah!!" Deidera yelled.

"I don't care!! You blew up five rooms!!" Sakura yelled.

"An accident, yeah!!"

"Too bad!!"

The argument continued. Deidera was running around the base….err most of the base and Sakura was chasing him. To say she was pissed was an understatement. Right now, she was holding her katana and just waiting for a chance to stab Deidera. She had already thrown a few shuriken at him and most of them grazed him.

Sakura abruptly came to a stop when two strong arms wrapped around her middle, preventing her from chasing the blonde. Her katana was also taken by Sasori and thrown to the side. Deidera had also stopped running…when his face slammed into Kisame.

Sakura struggled to get out of Itachi's grip, but soon found it useless. Her anger was slowly diminishing and being replaced by embarrassment as she remembered last night.

"Pinky, we have to solve the problem about the sleeping arrangements first," Kisame said.

"I know, Fish Face," Sakura replied.

Itachi's arms loosened and dropped to his side.

"Hmm. Since there are only two rooms that were not blown up, we'll have to share rooms. So, Pinky—" Kisame said.

"Don't even think about it!" Sakura angrily retorted.

"Sakura can stay with Itachi while the Kisame and I take her room," Sasori said.

"But—" Sakura started.

"What about me, yeah?!" Deidera asked.

"You can sleep on the floor. You blew up the rooms," Sasori said.

"But—" Sakura tried again.

"Then it's settled," Itachi said and walked towards the training grounds.

Sakura stood there stunned.

"_What the hell just happened here?! I just let my room get taken and I'm staying with…__**Itachi!**__" Sakura thought._

* * *

_**This chapter is a little shorter than most of the rest of them. I'm just really tired and I have to take the HSA in about a week. I think it's a waste of time…**_**.**

_**My mind's just been elsewhere for a while. I'm sorry if this chapter is kinda boring. I hope you like it anyway and please leave me reviews with suggestions or just comments. Thanks! I love hearing from all of you!**_

_**I don't even know if I'm keeping the characters in character when I'm writing the chapter…so I can guarantee that in the future, the characters will be OOC. I'm sorry for that. **_

_**Thanks**_ Starlight – Wild Koneko, Sasori's bride,wateveruwannacallme, aznkitty180, NamiHyoko, cherryredblossom, laravine, and cute0anime0addict_**!!**_


	9. Confusion

A grumbling kunouchi stood in the kitchen. Sakura was continuing to make breakfast. She was currently slicing an apple. Her hair was tied into a ponytail instead of a usual ribbon keeping it out of her face. She hadn't put her hair up like that for a while.

_"Why do I have to be the one to share a room with Itachi?! It'd be perfectly fine if someone else shared with him!! I could share with Sasori…...Kisame snores and Deidera sets off bombs; of course he wouldn't want them in his room. He'd kill them...__**I'd**__ kill them!!" Sakura thought._

She heaved a sigh and suddenly, yelped in pain. She put the knife down and looked at her finger. A droplet of blood was forming. Instead of healing it, like she should have to avoid infection, she continued to stare at it.

It was ironic that the people who she used to care about so much were now her enemies, that wanted her blood spilled, and her comrades were now the ones she used to call enemies. Sakura had never thought that she would one day be staying with the Akatsuki and hiding from Konoha, her old home.

"Heal it."

Sakura's head shot up and she turned to see Itachi standing in the doorway. He was in a pair of black baggy pants and a black shirt. His hair was also damp. He must've just got out of the shower.

"Sakura," he said. She looked at him with a confused expression on her face. His gaze shifted to her finger.

"Heal it," he repeated.

Sakura looked down at her finger and realized that it was still bleeding. Her finger glowed green and it was healed a moment later. Sakura stared at Itachi and said, "Breakfast is almost done."

He nodded and walked towards her. Sakura backed up a few steps until she hit the counter. Itachi continued to walk towards her until they were no more than two inches apart. His hand reached up and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. His hand, however, did not move from its place. Sakura blushed and turned her face towards him, a confused expression on her face.

Itachi only stared at her intently. Suddenly, the two inches between them became less and less until his soft lips touched hers. Sakura stiffened at first, but soon relaxed and kissed back. Itachi's right hand came up to her cheek while his other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. When they parted, both were breathing heavily and Sakura had a dazed look in her eyes.

Not too long after, Sasori walked in and there was now a great distance between Itachi and Sakura. Sasori eyed them for a second before sitting down at the table to eat his breakfast.

* * *

After breakfast, Sakura had asked Kisame to train with her. She needed to improve an earth jutsu of hers and what better way to do it than with water jutsu?

Currently, Kisame had just sent a giant water dragon at her. Sakura formed the necessary hand signs and slammed her hands to the ground. The earth started to crumble around a certain area and suddenly, an earth dragon rose from the ground and headed toward the water dragon. When the water dragon was close enough, Sakura formed another series of hand signs and the earth dragon opened its mouth. The water dragon couldn't avoid the earth dragon and headed straight towards its open mouth. The earth dragon's mouth snapped shut and when Sakura's hand formed one more sign, the dragon shattered into sharp pieces and headed towards Kisame.

The kiri-nin was stunned when he saw Sakura's earth jutsu and just barely avoided the sharp projectiles. Sakura saw that her jutsu was a success and smiled. However, Kisame was not one for being shocked for long. In the next instant, Sakura was soaked from head to toe. Sakura glared at Kisame.

"Uhh...I'm gonna train with Itachi for a bit," with that, Kisame quickly ran away from the fuming kunouchi. Sakura stomped back inside the base and headed towards her room when she remembered that she was staying in Itachi's room and all her stuff had already been moved. Even more irritated, she headed towards Itachi's room. When she walked in, she walked over to the closet, grabbed a change of clothes, and headed for the bathroom.

Sakura walked out of the bathroom to see Itachi sitting on the bed reading a book. Feeling awkward after what had happened that morning, she quickly headed for the door. However, when her hand was on the doorknob, Itachi called, "Sakura."

She stopped and asked, "Yes?"

Sakura desperately wanted to get out of the room. She didn't think she could stand being in the same room with him. Her mind was so confused. He had kissed her, but does that mean he remembers her? What if he's just using her?

That last thought made Sakura turn the doorknob and open the door, but before she could take even one step, Itachi stood behind her, his hand slamming the door shut. Startled, Sakura turned to face him, and suddenly wished she hadn't. He was too close.

He had lifted his hand to her cheek and Sakura realized that she had been crying. Itachi wiped her tears away and asked, "Why were you crying?"

"It--its no-nothing," Sakura stammered. She turned her head, only to have Itachi's hand gently turn it to face him.

"Wha—"

Sakura's question was cut off when soft lips connected with hers. Her eyes widened and she stood frozen from a moment. Her earlier thoughts came flooding to her mind and she put her hands on his chest to stop him. Tears were once again trailing down her cheeks. She looked up at Itachi and asked, "Do...do you...remember me?"

The last part was so soft that Itachi barely heard it. However, he was surprised that she asked that.

"_Does she remember everything? I thought that jutsu the third put on her wouldn't wear off," Itachi thought._

Sakura grew anxious with each second. She saw surprised flash across his eyes and she wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. Moments passed in silence and Sakura headed for the door; it seemed he didn't remember after all.

Again when she had opened the door, Itachi's hand slammed it shut. It seemed he had been snapped out of his thoughts when Sakura turned away from him. This time, Sakura didn't turn around to face him. She knew that she was crying and she didn't want to appear weak.

"Sakura, why did you ask me that?" Itachi questioned.

Sakura paused before answering, "I keep seeing things that I don't remember happening. I'm not sure if they're my memories or not."

"What do you see?" he asked.

"Myself…and you," Sakura answered.

"What makes you think these are memories?" Itachi asked.

"They seem so real, and I just think that they are. The reason Konoha is after me is because I know you from my past. What I'm seeing, are they my memories? Sometimes, you're training me, or saving me. I also saw the day you left. You'd often call me Blossom," Sakura explained.

There was a long silence that followed before Itachi spoke, "Those are your memories."

Sakura spun around to face him, her eyes wide. Itachi's face was expressionless, as always, but his eyes held surprise, recognition, sadness, anger, and more. Sakura was startled when she saw so many emotions in his eyes and the anger confused her. Why would he be angry?

"You remember me," Sakura stated.

Itachi nodded.

"You knew the whole time?" she asked, incredulous.

He nodded.

"And you never told me," she said.

He nodded.

"Why?" she asked.

At this, Itachi seemed a little hesitant before replying, "You were never supposed to regain your memories."

* * *

Kakashi, Sai, and Naruto were resting in a small restaurant after another day of searching for Sakura in Cloud. They had no leads and were planning on spending another day in Cloud before heading for Mist.

"We'll tell Leader when we get back. He'll probably send another team to Rock, yeah."

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai turned their heads to the left, where the door was. They saw a glimpse of black and red clouds. Quickly paying, the three shinobi hurried outside. Once outside, they looked around for any black cloaks with red clouds on them; they found none. However, they knew someone was going to be in Rock

* * *

_**I am so incredibly sorry for updating this late! I have no excuses. I've had writer's block so many times!! I also rewrote a lot of stuff so this chapter might be a little random or something…Well, I also felt a little discouraged when writing this chapter. My story **_Pure & Evil _**hasn't gotten any reviews and it kinda put me down, but I'm starting to feel better…**_

_**I hope this chapter was okay and that the characters weren't too OOC. I try not to make them OOC, but some things have to be different. **_

_**Drop me a review and let me know what you think!**_

_**Suggestions are always welcomed!**_


	10. Meeting

It had been a three day travel to Rock. What was left of Team Kakashi had been there for a day already and they haven't made any progress. They had decided to continue their search for Sakura in Rock and stop the Akatsuki. However, they couldn't do much besides search the country since they only knew that some Akatsuki were going to arrive at Rock.

* * *

Sakura and Itachi had traveled in silence the whole way. The silence was not something Sakura liked, but she had no idea how to start a conversation after what had happened.

**Flashback**

"_You remember me," Sakura stated._

_Itachi nodded._

"_You knew the whole time?" she asked, incredulous._

_He nodded._

"_And you never told me," she said._

_He nodded._

"_Why?" she asked._

_At this, Itachi seemed a little hesitant before replying, "You were never supposed to regain your memories."_

"_Wh-what do you mean?" Sakura stuttered. _

"_The third's jutsu was not meant to be broken," Itachi stated._

_There was a long silence as Sakura took in the new information. However, she did have one question on her mind._

"_Would you have told me of my memories?" _

_Itachi was quiet before he responded, "Perhaps."_

"_Why didn't you ta—" _

_Sakura's question was interrupted by a knock on the door and Kisame walking in. _

"_Pein wants you and Sakura to go to Rock," Kisame said as he handed Itachi a scroll._

_Itachi opened the scroll and read its contents before nodding at Kisame and passing the scroll over to Sakura._

_She read over the scroll and finished just in time for Itachi to toss her pack to her. They were going on a mission. Their mission was to assassinate a minor lord, and retrieve and important scroll that their target held. The name of the target is Kutaro Mikami.  
_**  
End Flashback**

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when Itachi suddenly said, "We'll arrive in Rock in the morning."

She nodded and they both found shelter for the night.

Team Kakashi woke up early and started their search. They headed into a small rock territory where there was only one small hut. Heading toward the hut, they asked the man living there if he knew of any news dealing with the Akatsuki. This man replied yes.

"They are coming after me," the man stated.

"Why?" Sai asked.

"I have an enemy that said he would pay the Akatsuki a lot of money to kill me. I am a minor lord, but this is where I am hiding for now," the man replied.

"What's your name?" Kakashi asked.

"Kutaro Mikami."

"We are after the Akatsuki. We'll stay and protect you!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Thank you. I'll show you around the area," Kutaro responded.

They were walking into a small area with little trees when a kunai was suddenly flung at Kutaro. However, Kutaro had turned to say something to Kakashi, and the kunai merely pierced his right arm.

The Konoha shinobi immediately reacted. Kunai and shuriken were thrown and deflected.

"Come out. We know you're Akatsuki," Kakashi said.

Team Kakashi and Kutaro didn't have to wait long before two people in black cloaks with red clouds and straw hats step forward.

The area was silent before Sai demanded, "Take off your hats."

Silence passed once more before the taller shinobi slowly lifted his hat and tossed it to the side. Red eyes stared back at Team Kakashi and Kutaro.

"Itachi Uchiha," Naruto stated.

The s-class criminal hardly reacted.

"I believe I asked BOTH of you to take off your hats," Sai said.

The other Akatsuki shinobi slowly lifted their hand to their hat and tossed it to the side just like Itachi had.

"SAKURA?!" Naruto and Sai burst out. You could tell that Kakashi was also stunned.

"Hello Naruto, Sai, Kakashi," Sakura said.

"YOU JOINED AKATSUKI?!" Naruto yelled.

"Yes," was her simple answer.

"Wh-why??" Naruto asked.

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Why should you care? All of you lied to me and sent me off to be killed," Sakura responded coldly.

"We had to choose, Sakura-chan. You or the village," Naruto replied sullenly.

"Why the hell would you have to choose?!" Sakura shouted.

"You knew Itachi Uchiha. You would have remembered him and there was a chance that you would run off. You were a danger to the village," Kakashi said.

Sakura was about to retort when Itachi's voice sounded, "Sakura."

She glanced towards him and nodded slightly. She then flung three shuriken at Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai. All three shinobi dodged the dangerous weapon and stared at Sakura in shock. They hadn't thought that she would attack them.

Before they could get another word in, Sakura pulled her right hand back and the shuriken went flying back towards her. The team from Konoha hadn't noticed until the shuriken were right upon them and barely dodged it.

Team Kakashi got into a fighting stance and all reached for their weapons and threw them at Sakura. Quickly unsheathing her katana, Sakura dodged and deflected them all. Sheathing her katana, she then created two clones and sent them off to deal with Sai and Naruto, leaving her to battle her former sensei.

Kakashi quickly made hand signs for a fire jutsu and Sakura countered with a simple water jutsu followed quickly by a fire jutsu that Itachi had taught her. Kakashi hid underneath the ground just as the small fireballs was about to reach him. Sakura slid into a defensive stance and waited for Kakashi to show himself. She had expected him to be right underneath her and was barely able to dodge the water dragon heading her way.

Jumping a distance away, Sakura noticed the dragon coming towards her again. Quickly forming the necessary hand signs, she slammed her hands onto the ground and an earth dragon appeared, swallowing up the water dragon. A few more hand signs and shattered pieces of the earth dragon went flying towards Kakashi.

The copy-nin dodged most of the sharp projectiles and only had a few grazes. However, while Kakashi had been busy with that, Sakura had thrown a kunai and two shuriken at him. The first object was dodged, the second grazed him leg, and the last made an inch deep wound.

* * *

While Sakura was merely distracting the Konoha shinobi, Itachi headed for Kutaro. He knew that Kutaro was not just an ordinary villager. Kutaro was a shinobi, but not a well-trained one.

* * *

Sakura soon saw her clones being defeated and that Naruto and Sai were heading towards Itachi. She quickly punched the ground and huge cracks formed all around them. Naruto and Sai's attention were quickly diverted to Sakura and Kakashi. Sakura, however, paid them no heed. She had to get these three out of the way before they followed back to their base.

She formed the necessary hand signs for a simple fire jutsu. As predicted, Kakashi leaped out of the way. Once his feet touched the ground, Sakura appeared right behind him and knocked him out.

Naruto and Sai rushed towards Sakura. Naruto knelt next to Kakashi to check on him while Sai faced Sakura. Naruto soon joined Sai when he deemed Kakashi to be alright.

The two shinobi charged Sakura. She immediately ducked Naruto's fist and leapt away from Sai's kunai. Another shuriken headed her way, but in the opposite direction.

She quickly noticed Naruto's shadow clone about ten feet to her left. She saw the clone throw a kunai with an exploding note attached. Eyes widening, Sakura quickly jumped away, only to feel immense pain on her back. Another explosion had gone off behind her, and she had barely jumped a feet away from it.

She quickly disposed of the clone with a shuriken and quickly drew out her katana to block Sai's. She barely had time to register Naruto heading her way with the Rasengan.

Quickly, Sakura twisted out of the way and the deadly jutsu struck a rock. Her attention was diverted from the blonde when she felt something crawling up her leg.

Sai's painted snake stared up at her and opened its mouth to bite her. Sakura quickly did a substitution jutsu. A black bird soon headed her way.

Sakura soon got annoyed with all of this and formed the necessary hand signs for a wind jutsu. The bird was blown slightly off course and crashed. A slight pain soon registered on her left thigh. A senbon had been thrown at her. Quickly yanking it out, Sakura jumped back from a fireball.

She saw Itachi from the corner of her eye. He had dealt with Kutaro long ago. The time that took part was finding the stupid scroll. However, he now had it and Sakura formed hand signs that neither Naruto nor Sai recognized. They were confused when sakura petals soon surrounded them. The two did notice that they were growing dizzy and barely felt the vines wrap around them before they fell into unconsciousness.

"Should've done that from the start," Sakura muttered. She turned her head as Itachi approached and they both set off back to Mist. However, not far from Rock, Sakura collapsed. Itachi picked up Sakura's body and carried her to a small secluded clearing.

The pink haired girl started to heal her injuries and the two stayed there until an hour before dawn.

* * *

_**WHOOHOO!! Two chapters in one week! Haha. Kinda hyper right now. I have no clue when I'll be updating next. I'm so excited and can't wait for tomorrow. Picture taking with cap and gown!! And no I'm not graduating high school or college. Not attending those schools yet..**_

_**Anyway, leave me a review and let me know what you think.**_

_**Oh! The fighting part was not good. I thought it was awkward and weird so I'm sorry it sucked. **_

_**Suggestions welcomed!**_


	11. After and A New Mission

It had been a week since Sakura and Team Seven's meeting. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai had just returned to Konoha and were in the Hokage Tower giving their report.

"Sakura is a part of the Akatsuki?" Tsunade asked in astonishment.

"Yes. Her partner appears to be Itachi Uchiha," Kakashi informed.

"Sakura has a few new jutsus. She has used two to fight us. We're not sure if she has more," Sai said.

Throughout the whole report, Naruto had been silent. Tsunade gave them one last look and dismissed all except Kakashi.

"Does she remember anything?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm not sure. She seems to work well with Itachi, but that's all I gather. Whether she remembers or not, I don't think so; not yet," Kakashi replied.

* * *

Sakura walked back to Itachi's room to get some sleep. Kisame and Itachi had returned from their mission with minor injuries. She had just healed Kisame. He seemed to have the majority of the injuries.

Walking into the room, she headed towards the bathroom. When she noticed a red spot on the cloak draped over a chair. Sakura made her way over to Itachi and said, "Itachi, let me heal it."

He hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. Sakura gently grabbed his arm and placed her hands over the injury. Green chakra flowed from her hands and slowly healed his arm.

The kunouchi looked up at him and started to say something when she noticed his eyes were hurting him again.

"You used the Mangekyo too much," she said. Her features were set into a frown.

"Hn."

Sakura was a bit miffed at the response before she sighed and began the process of healing his eyes. When she finished, she told him not to keep his sharingan on too much and to stop using the Mangekyo too often. She then headed for the shower.

* * *

While Sakura was in the shower, she wondered where she and Itachi stood. They had kissed a few times and she now knew that they had a past together, but things were still awkward.

After a few more minutes, Sakura was still as confused as ever and incredibly frustrated. She dried herself off and dressed before walking out of the bathroom. Looking over towards Itachi, Sakura found herself smiling.

He was asleep. In the moonlight, she could barely make out his face, but that was enough for her to see his, _somewhat_, relaxed face. The mission must have tired him more that she thought.

Sakura walked over to the desk in the corner of the room, and sat in the chair reading a medical book. She wasn't tired anymore. The shower seemed to have woken her up, and seeing Itachi's face melted her frustration, at least for now.

* * *

"DEIDERA, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

Every Akatsuki member turned their attention to the double doors. Deidera came running in and hiding behind Kisame.

It was rare that every member would be in one place, but they were welcoming a new member today. However, Deidera had been chosen to wake those in the current base; the base Deidera, Sasori, Kisame, Itachi, and Sakura were staying at.

He had gone to Kisame's room to find he had already woken, as had Sasori and Itachi. The only thing left was to wake the kunouchi, and apparently, he had done it in a troublesome way.

Currently, the kunouchi was being held back by Kakuzu and Sasori. Everyone could see why she was angry. She was drenched in water. However, it wasn't cold water; it was hot water. Some parts of her skin were turning red.

Pein cleared his throat. Amusement shining in his eyes, he said, "You can pummel him afterward, Sakura. We have something to discuss."

Sakura glared at Deidera before focusing her attention on Pein.

"Tobi will be joining us. He will be partnered with Sasori and Deidera. They, along with Itachi, Kisame, and Sakura will be going to retrieve the Hachibi. Kakuzu and Hidan will be sent on an assassination mission. Stay behind to get the details…"

The meeting continued for a while and in the end, Sakura had decided not to pummel Deidera since they were to go on an important mission soon. She'd kill him when they got back.

* * *

"What if they brainwashed her?" Naruto asked, "There's no way Sakura would join Akatsuki willingly."

Tsunade sighed. Naruto had been coming up to the Hokage tower all day with crazy ideas of why Sakura joined Akatsuki.

"Tsunade baa-chan!! Maybe that's why Itachi was her partner. He has to brainwash her again if she breaks his genjutsu!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto that's stu—" Tsunade paused. Naruto had a point.

"Shisune!" Tsunade called.

The sounds of footsteps were heard as Shisune rushed into the room. "Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

"Call Team Kakashi and Captain Yamato in here. They're going to retrieve Sakura," Tsunade commanded.

* * *

Sakura walked out of the base and towards a tree on the training grounds. However, tonight, she wasn't training.

"_The Hachibi. That means the kyuubi will be next," _Sakura thought sadly.

Even though Naruto had betrayed her, she still thought of him as a brother. Sakura didn't want Naruto to die, but they needed the kyuubi inside him.

She missed Ino. There wasn't anyone she could really talk to here at Akatsuki. Konan was the only other female member and she and Pein had their own base. There were only a few times that Sakura saw Konan. The girls never got to say more than a few words to each other. They either had a mission or Konan would leave with Pein.

Sakura sighed. She missed all her friends in Konoha…she also missed her shishou. Ever since her parents had died, Tsunade had been like a second mother to her. Thinking about Konoha and all her precious people there made Sakura want to cry, but she knew one thing for sure; she would never give up what she has now. Akatsuki was family…no matter how weird everyone was they were family.

Sakura was startled out of her thoughts when she suddenly felt someone touch her cheek. She looked up and her jade eyes met onyx ones. Itachi's hand left her cheek and he held it in front of her eyes. Sakura stared at his hand and saw that his finger was wet. She reached up, in shock, to touch her face. To her surprise, it was wet. She had been crying and hadn't even noticed.

She quickly stood up and turned to her left, away from Itachi. Sakura didn't want him to see her like this any more than he already had. He must have thought it was weak of her to be crying. Her hands quickly brushed her tears away and she started to walk back towards the base.

"Sakura," Itachi called softly.

Sakura stopped. She felt his presence behind her. She shut her eyes, thinking that he was going to tell her to stop crying, to stop being so weak. Contrary to many people's belief, Sakura still thought of herself as weak sometimes.

"You're not weak," he said.

The words surprised Sakura. She gasped and turned around, staring at him with wide eyes.

Without thinking, Sakura did something impulsive, she walked up to Itachi and put her arms around him and cried into his chest.

She felt his arms wrapped around her waist.

* * *

Okay, I swear, I am so sorry! This chapter took me……uhh…how long has it been since I updated?? I'm sorry, so sorry. I've just been distracted a lot, and I've had a lot on my mind.

I'm back at school and it's just not what I expected. It's harder than I expected. I love my Japanese class though! Everyone is so funny!

Well, let me know what you thought of this chapter. I'm sorry about all the grammar errors.

**To those that are still reading this story and didn't think I was dead, Thank You Very Much!!**


	12. Sooner or Later From Me or Him

A ray of sunlight penetrated through the curtains and shined upon Sakura. She squinted her eyes and was about to turn to her side when she realized that she couldn't move; an arm was around her waist. Her eyes snapped open and Sakura looked down and realized two things: her clothes were, thankfully, still on, and there was an arm draped around her waist. Slowly, Sakura turned around to see Itachi's sleeping face. At first she panicked before remembering that she had fallen asleep in his arms last night. Sakura relaxed before tensing up again. She had been crying on him last night. A blush made its way to her cheeks.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Itachi was awake the whole time. However, his eyes had opened when he felt her tense up. His eyes shone with amusement as he looked at Sakura. Her emotions were clearly shown on her face. She had gone from slight amazement, to panic, to relaxed, to horrified, and to embarrassed in less than a minute.

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts when she felt Itachi staring at her. She looked into his eyes and saw that he was amused. Sakura huffed and turned away from him.

Her thoughts quickly drifted back to last night.

"_You're not weak."_

Those were the words Itachi had spoken to her last night. Did he really mean it? Or was it simply to make her feel better?

"_What am I thinking?! Itachi never says unnecessary things,"_ Sakura thought. Though, no one could really blame her for questioning his words. She was told that she was weak all her life.

"What are you thinking about, blossom?"

He startled her. Not because of his sudden question, but because he had called her blossom.

She slowly turned to face him. "I remember when you used to call me that all the time."

Itachi's eyes softened.

**!!BOOM!!**

"……Deidera needs a new hobby," Sakura said.

* * *

"Naruto," Kakashi called. "We're taking a break."

"But!" Naruto started.

"No buts Naruto. We're going to be too exhausted to fight if we continue on like this," Kakashi explained.

They had been traveling at top speed for two days straight. Even Sai was tired. Naruto had been talking nonstop the whole time. It had started getting irritating after the first half hour. Kakashi and Sai only hoped they were going to be there soon…

* * *

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in!" Sakura called. She was currently in the medical wing of their base. Tobi had gotten injured when Deidera had 'accidentally' set off his bomb that morning. Now, she was bandaging Tobi's arm.

"Sakura-san."

"Sasori-san, is there something you need?" Sakura asked.

"No. We have a meeting in 15 minutes. Pein has something important to discuss," Sasori said.

"Okay. Thanks," Sakura said.

Sasori nodded and walked out of the room.

Sakura finished bandaging Tobi's arm and told him to stay away from anything too intense. She may have healed in, but there's only so much healing could do.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan! Bye!" Tobi said cheerily before he walked out of the room.

Sakura sighed. She knew her warnings were useless. Picking up the extra bandages, she put them away and went to wash her hands. She headed to the meeting room afterwards.

* * *

"We have a slight problem. Capturing the hachibi will take more time than I thought and it might be a little challenging as well," Pein informed.

"But why?" Sakura asked.

The hachibi was strong, but Sakura didn't think it would take more time than they thought previously. Was it hiding? Or was Konoha protecting it? But that was impossible. Konoha had no idea that they were planning on capturing the hachibi this soon.

"Pein, I don't understand. Why would it take more time?" Sakura asked.

"Orochimaru seems to have captured it," he replied, "You, Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidera will go and retrieve it. Tobi will be sent on a different mission and will not be joining you. The four of you will leave in three days," Pein said.

The rest of the meeting seemed like a blur to Sakura. Orochimaru, that meant she would be seeing _him_ again. When the meeting was over, Sakura numbly walked out to beyond the training grounds. She passed the trees and stopped near a lake.

It had been about year since that happened. Honestly, she had pushed all thoughts of it to the back of her mind until today. Five days, she had about five days before someone found out. Sakura had no doubt they would find out. That bastard wouldn't keep his mouth shut. She sighed. This could _not_ get any worse.

"Sakura."

Never mind.

Sakura continued to stare out at the lake, hoping against odds that he'd go away. After a few minutes, she knew he wasn't going to leave.

"What's bothering you?" he asked.

"Nothing's bothering me. I'm just enjoying the view," she replied.

_And hoping you'll go away_.

"You're lying," he stated.

_No duh! Now, go away!_

"Is there something you need, Itachi?" Sakura asked.

"No."

_Then go away._

"I'm gonna head back inside," she said. Sakura turned away from the lake and started up the path to the base. As she brushed pass him, she half expected him to grab her, but she was grateful that he didn't. Maybe she'd be able to make it to their room without any comments on why she was acting so strange.

"Sakura."

Shit.

Sakura stopped walking. She turned around and found herself face to face with Itachi. She hated when he did that. Her eyes widened and she took a small step back. That was as far as she went though, for Itachi had grabbed her hand. She stared down at their joined hands. When her gaze traveled back up, she looked him in the eyes and gave a sad smile.

"Don't ask me to explain. I can't do that right now, but I promise I'll tell you soon," Sakura said.

His only response was the slight tightening of his grip. He then led her back to the base. Sakura understood that he would wait until she was willing to tell him and wouldn't push her for details.

When they entered the base, they found...chaos. Tobi was sitting on the ground, crying and holding his bleeding arm. Deidera was pulling on some of his hair. Sakura didn't understand what the hell he was doing until her gaze landed on Kisame. In his hands was a small lock of blonde hair. To top it all off, Kisame's face looked like a bomb exploded in front of it. Sakura stared open mouthed before she closed it and shook her head. She was going to relax and ask about it later. Turning around, she walked towards the room she shared with Itachi and immediately headed for the shower.

* * *

Sakura felt herself being shaken on the shoulder. She opened her eyes to realize it was Itachi standing in front of her, and that she was naked in the bath tub. She gave an embarrassed squeak and immediately wished she could disappear. Sakura looked into his eyes and saw that he was amused, so being the mature person she was; she stuck her tongue out at him. What she did not expect him to do was step closer to her. Sakura looked at him curiously. He continued to come closer until her was right next to the tub. He lowered his head and Sakura found her gaze focused on his lips. Her eyes closed as his lips found hers. What was meant to be a chaste kiss, quickly turned into something more passionate. Both were breathing heavily when they broke apart.

"Get dressed, Blossom," he said before he left.

Sakura got out of the tub, drained the water, and dried off. As she was doing all this, she thought back to the kiss and her feelings for Itachi. She really wanted to tell him why she was reluctant to go on the upcoming mission, but she was also afraid of his reaction. They never discussed what they really were. A part of her didn't want to tell him because she was afraid of his reaction and if it would ruin whatever they had now. However, Sakura knew that he would find out soon, and she'd rather have him hear it from her than anyone else.

She wrapped a towel around herself and looked in the mirror. Sakura took a deep breath and stepped into the room she and Itachi were sharing.

Better sooner than later…hopefully...

* * *

Oh my god, I'm finally done with this chapter!! Whoo!! Okay, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't read over it and I don't have a beta so this chapter might have a few spelling errors and a few weird sentences. Sorry about that. I'm trying my best to make sure people stay in character, but it's so incredibly hard.

I'm so sorry for not updating as often as I used to. School is…hell and heaven at the same time I guess you can say. I _hate_ homework. Absolutely _hate_ it. I have to do this project for one of my classes and it's just not making anything better because I don't have a topic. I really don't like honor classes. Hopefully, the next time I sign up for one, I'll be sure to notice the small little words saying "project required." Ugh. Good thing about school, I can hang out with my friends.

Anyway, off topic. Sorry about that.

Hopefully, this chapter turned out okay. Leave me a review and let me know!


	13. Rating Change

Hey! I'm gonna change the rating to M cause of some mentions of some things in the next chapter. If anyone has a comment about it, please let me know. I'll take off this notice in about a week or two.

Thanks ^_^

~IW~


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